


benevolence

by HQcharbon (fleurdelester)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Dancing, M/M, Minor Injuries, Prince Kageyama, Soup, Swordfighting, hinata saves kageyama's life and ends up as his personal knight as a result, kageyama gets very drunk at some point, knight hinata, mentions of Arranged Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:35:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29097393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurdelester/pseuds/HQcharbon
Summary: A commotion erupts in the crowd, and suddenly, Kageyama's being tackled to the ground, the wind knocked out of his lungs as his chest meets earth. It’s only once he’s been toppled to the ground does he see what the fuss was about. Standing above him is one of the kitchen boys; he looks terrified and out of breath, hiding behind a wooden pot lid. He straightens up a little, dropping the lid down to his side now that he’s seemingly out of danger, and that’s when Kageyama sees the arrow that has pierced the wood.-Kageyama Tobio, better known to his subjects as the cold-hearted prince, is about to become of marrying age. In a twist of fate, kitchen boy Hinata saves his life from an accidental stray arrow. The feat of bravery earns him a promotion, and he is now to serve as Prince Kageyama's personal knight.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 7
Kudos: 127





	benevolence

**Author's Note:**

> thanks SOSOSO much to [anna](https://twitter.com/rinpanna) for betaing this <3 she 1) came up with the title (i was _this_ close to naming this fic 'soup') and 2) left helpful comments such as "i am here to cause problems and inject semicolons" and "[gay panic intensifies]"
> 
> enjoy!

“And what do you think of this soup, my prince?” someone asks, holding a spoon up for Kageyama to taste.

“It’s fine,” he says without tasting it, continuing to advance through the hustle and bustle of the gardens, hoping to have this over with as soon as possible.

The air was chilly against his hands as he went over preparation after preparation for his suitor’s ball, the earth only just beginning to thaw with the warmth of early spring. The whole ordeal is ridiculous, he thinks, only playing along to appease his father. He has no interest in marrying someone he’s never met, much less spending an evening bathed in extravagance just for the sake of meeting potential suitors.

It’s not that he has no interest in getting married, but, as the crown prince, he is expected to marry for power, unlike his sister who had less pressure on her shoulders and married for love. Now, as he picked flower arrangements and saw entertainment rehearsals and tasted soups, everything was but a bitter reminder of that.

He finishes the last task of the day, selecting place settings, and motions to his accompaniment that he’s going to return to his room, not to be disturbed. He pushes through the crowd, past the entertainers practicing their show of archery prowess, past the florists and the cooks packing up their equipment.

A commotion erupts in the crowd, and suddenly, Kageyama's being tackled to the ground, the wind knocked out of his lungs as his chest meets earth. It’s only once he’s been toppled to the ground does he see what the fuss was about.

Standing above him is one of the kitchen boys; he looks terrified and out of breath, hiding behind a wooden pot lid. He straightens up a little, dropping the lid down to his side now that he’s seemingly out of danger, and that’s when Kageyama sees the arrow that has pierced the wood.

The man above him is significantly shorter than Kageyama, with bright orange hair and a lopsided expression as he looks at the pot lid in wonder, awestruck at what he had just accomplished. Kageyama stares up at him, momentarily entranced by how his chest heaves as he catches his breath.

One of the performers jogs up to where he sits sprawled on the ground, reaching a hand to help Kageyama up.

“Your highness, are you alright?” he asks, a fearful look on his face but absent of genuine concern, like he’s more concerned about his own position than Kageyama’s wellbeing.

“Fine.” Kageyama huffs, turning to look at the kitchen boy. Considering his size, it’s honestly surprising he managed to tackle him to the ground so easily. He turns red under the prince’s gaze, suddenly realizing what he’s done as he drops into a deep bow.

“Your highness,” he squeaks, “I’m sorry! I just saw the arrow coming and jumped to stop it, I didn’t mean to bring you harm, I swear!”

“It’s fine,” Kageyama says. “You may stand.”

“You saved his life!” the performer says, turning to bow slightly to Hinata. “Thank you!”

The boy scratches the back of his neck, unsure. “I mean, I didn’t really do much, the lid did most of the work.”

“What’s your name?” Kageyama interrupts. “My father will probably want to see you.”

“Ah, my name is Hinata Shouyou, your highness.” He gulps before continuing. “I’m not in trouble, am I?”

“No,” Kageyama answers, before assigning one of the staff members accompany him to the King while he heads to his room for some much needed rest.

He’ll find out later, anyways.

* * *

It’s only during dinner that he finds out the outcome of what happened to the kitchen boy.

“Tobio,” his father says. “You’re going to have a new personal knight.”

“Oh?” he asks, thoroughly uninterested. He’s gone through over a dozen personal knights in his time at the palace, so being assigned a new one out of the blue isn’t too surprising. “Who is it this time?”

“Hinata Shouyou,” his father says. “That kitchen boy from earlier. He saved your life, and he seems like he’s willing to risk his life for you, which kept being a problem with your other knights.”

“You know it’s not my intentions to make the knights hate me, right, Father?” he sighs. “It’s not like this one is going to be any different, in the end.”

“Nevertheless, he starts training with the royal guard tomorrow, and early next week he’ll officially take post as your personal knight.”

Kageyama puts down his fork, effectively putting an end to the conversation. He wonders if this knight will be the same as all the others and quit within a week as Kageyama changes the topic to the preparations for the ball.

* * *

Hinata Shouyou’s first day as a knight does not go smoothly at all.

Kageyama is left waiting in his room as the knight arrives fifteen minutes late, fully dressed and impatient to start the day when he finally walks through the door. Hinata stumbles into the room, his new sword clanking against his thigh as he walks. Everyone turns to face him, and he immediately takes a knee, the beads of sweat beginning to form on his brow.

“Your highness,” he says, surely practiced to death during the training he received.

“Please,” Kageyama says, his voice carrying across the room even though he isn’t shouting. “We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, just call me Kageyama. And you can stand.”

Hinata rises awkwardly, unsure of where to stand, choosing to stay close to the door.

“In the morning, we have lessons,” Kageyama starts, “and in the afternoon, we have free time, which I usually spend either in here or the gardens. You will accompany me to all of them, as well as to outings and errands, when necessary. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Hinata says, looking like he has to hold himself back from calling Kageyama _your highness_ again.

“Good,” Kageyama turns away from him, walking towards a floor to ceiling bookshelf on the other side of the room. “It’s about time to start then.”

Hinata stands guard at the door while Kageyama has lesson after lesson, from playing music to studying the trade specialties of neighbouring kingdoms. Hinata looks like he’s trying to follow along at first, but quickly loses interest for some of the more boring topics.

After lunch, Kageyama decides to take a walk in the gardens, even though it’s still too cold to relax and enjoy the sunshine properly. Hinata walks two steps behind him, not speaking unless spoken to, but it’s only the two of them and the silence and awkwardness is beginning to become too heavy to bear.

“So,” Kageyama starts, putting Hinata out of his misery. “Tell me about yourself.”

“Oh!” Hinata says, surprised. "What do you want to know?”

“I don’t really know,” Kageyama admits. “Everything, I guess.”

“Well, my name is Hinata Shouyou, and I grew up in the palace! My mom became a royal cook when my sister and I were really young, so we’ve lived in the servant’s chambers almost our whole lives.”

“I see,” Kageyama pauses, slowing his walk until he falls in sync with Hinata, side by side. “Shouyou is a pretty name.”

“You think so?” Hinata feels his face heat up at the compliment. “Thanks! My mom will be happy to hear that? That means a lot, coming from you.”

“Are you a good cook? You made the soup I tried last week, right?”

Hinata laughs brightly, as though surprised by the turn this conversation is taking. “I did. Maybe one day I can teach you the secret ingredients. Enough about me, we should be talking about you! Tell me a bit more about yourself, Kageyama.”

“What is there to know?” Kageyama muses. “I’m the cold hearted prince that no one wants to be around, ruthless and cruel.”

“Now that can’t be true.” Hinata interrupts. “I may not know you well, but surely there must be more to you.”

He knows his reputation is unprecedented in the palace, all of the servants whispering behind closed doors about how blunt and uncaring he was, how demanding and unkind he was, how lonely he was.

But maybe, _just maybe_ , Hinata would be different.

Kageyama sighs, clasping his hands behind his back as he walks, feeling his shoulders stiffen as he takes his next breath. “What specifically do you want to know?”

* * *

For as long as Tobio’s been alive, he’s been told over and over about how excited he should be for his suitor’s ball, for it was tradition in his kingdom to host massive festivities the spring after any royal’s 18th birthday in the hopes of it ending in marriage.

They’d been planning and preparing for it since last spring, a whole week’s worth of events that would end in a ball, with eligible princes and princesses from all the neighbouring kingdoms to be invited.

To say Tobio is not excited for it would be an understatement.

It’s not that he hates the festivities – several years earlier when his sister Miwa had undergone the same process, he enjoyed attending all the events, seeing the action of the Knight’s tournament, the colours of the decorations that blanketed the palace, and the food at the ball. But now that it was his turn, he was dreading what the whole event represents.

To put it simply, he did not want to marry _at all,_ at least not if it had to be done like this. When he was just a child, his father had decreed that he would be the one to take the throne instead of Miwa, even though he was the younger of the two. And now, unlike his sister, he had a set list of suitors that he _had_ to choose from, ordered by the benefits that would come to the kingdom by marrying them.

He couldn’t even form a stable friendship with any of his knights; how was he supposed to find someone willing to marry him, anyways?

He buttoned the sleeves of his vest, pushing the thoughts to the back of his head as the current knight in question barges into his chambers.

“You’re late.” Kageyama says, watching as he struggles to stand up straight without his armor clanking together. “We have a busy day today; preparations for the suitor’s ball are in full swing.”

“Ah, yes!” Hinata squeaks, rushing to his side. “Lead the way.”

Kageyama finishes dressing in silence, slipping on his shoes and jacket under Hinata’s watchful eye. His stare is intense, like he doesn’t know whether he should look away or not.

His father had made a lot of mistakes in his life in the past, from decisions that the citizens were unhappy with to ones that only infuriated Tobio. The decision to make Hinata a knight, his own personal knight no less, had been a bizarre one. It was clear from the way that he stood, from the way he walked, from the way he held a sword, that he was unsuited to knighthood. Yet that one day in the garden, he had jumped in front of Kageyama to shield him from a stray arrow, quivering behind a pot lit the whole time.

His father and the rest of the palace called it an act of bravery, but Kageyama saw it for what it really was: an act of stupidity. Nonetheless, Hinata had been a tolerable companion so far. His bright personality helped ease their relationship when needed, and he didn’t seem to mind the silences.

Most importantly, he seemed determined to look past Kageyama’s reputation and actually get to know him.

Kageyama lead them down the hallways to the ballroom as it started to be set up. There were staff hanging blue banners from the ceiling with ornate golden embroidery, the tables were being arranged on the edges of the room, different tablecloth options being laid out for him to choose from.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Hinata’s expression as they walk together. He’s looking up at the rafters, his eyes twinkling with all the splendors the ballroom has to offer. Kageyama keeps his eyes trained on him as they advance towards the table, and a few seconds later, he’s caught, Hinata blinking in surprise at the prince’s sustained attention.

“I’ve never been in the ballroom!” he says defensively. “It’s beautiful.”

He goes back to gazing around the room at all the décor, and Kageyama lets him. He’s almost tempted to ask what else in the palace he hasn’t seen, just so he can experience that awestruck expression a little more.

He crinkles his nose. “It’s a little extravagant for my tastes, but despite the appearance that I have full control over this event, my father made most of the decisions.”

He pauses, ushering away the staff holding out place settings to him with a point of a finger. “I trust that you know how the event unfolds.”

It isn’t a question, most of the kingdom is aware of the festival’s details, some of the citizens in the capital sometimes even come or hold events of their own in celebration.

Hinata nods. “I was old enough to help out with some of the cooking when it was Princess Miwa’s turn.”

“Good,” Kageyama stops, turning to face him. “So you're aware of the Knight’s tournament, then? You know you’ll have to participate.”

Hinata pales a little, his eyes widening. “I am prepared to win for you, my prince!”

Kageyama scoffs. Hinata’s technique is amateur at best; there’s no way he’ll make it past the first round, even if he’s matched against another inexperienced knight. He appreciates the enthusiasm nonetheless.

“I’ll be looking forward to it then.” He says. “And I thought I told you, don’t call me ‘your prince’.”

“Actually, you said your highness was off the table.” Hinata grins, happily trailing behind him as Kageyama leads them to the next errand of the day.

Despite the technically disrespectful remark, Kageyama feels his lips tug into a smirk.

* * *

Hinata, it seems, had not taken his declaration to win lightly.

On a particularly sunny day, Kageyama excused him for the afternoon in favour of brushing up on the paperwork about his potential list of suitors. While he’s lounging alone on the lawn, he spots Hinata. He’s hidden away in the corner of the gardens, where the guards and knight usually train, barely hidden from Kageyama’s view.

He seems to be… practicing, swinging his sword wildly at a training dummy, jumping away to dodge imaginary swings. He’s awful at it, Kageyama can even see it from here. His shoulders are too tense, the effort needed for him to swing his sword clearly too great for him to do it with ease.

He’s not nearly good enough to join a tournament with other skilled swordfighters and win, much less make it past the first round. But as Kageyama watches, he becomes more at ease with the weapon in his hands, adjusting his grip comfortably on the hilt.

He’s still not good, but he’s getting better.

* * *

Kageyama and Hinata fall into a routine.

Each morning, Hinata barges into his bedchambers, either barely on time or slightly late, and awkwardly stands guard at the door while a parade of instructors come in for morning lessons.

In the afternoon, they take walks outdoors, just chatting and getting to know each other. Nothing has gone wrong yet; Hinata hasn’t ran out on him, or complained to the head of the royal guard and asked to be reassigned. By Kageyama’s count, he’s lasted far longer than expected.

Kageyama asks Hinata questions about himself, to which he replies easily, happily chattering away about his family and his life in the kitchens. It seems… happy, like Hinata’s life was full of warmth and joy. Kageyama wonders if Hinata feels like that’s all changed since he became a knight, a job he was wholly unprepared for.

Hinata stops walking next to him, grabbing onto Kageyama’s sleeve to stop him, too.

“Huh?” he asks, meeting Kageyama’s eyes. “Why wouldn’t I be happy?”

Kageyama blinks, realizing then that he’d been thinking out loud. “Well,” he tries, “the way you talk about growing up in the kitchens, getting to spend time surrounded by your family and love and laughter… I just can’t imagine you’d be as happy here. You never even asked to be a knight; you just got stuck with me on my father’s orders.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t be _happy_.” Hinata puts his hands on his hips. “I can’t say this is more _interesting_ , but I can say that I’m still having fun. I mean, I wouldn’t have managed to become friends with the esteemed cold hearted prince if I’d stayed in the kitchens testing recipes all day, wouldn’t I?”

He’s grinning ear to ear as he says it, and Kageyama feels as though the sun is shining down upon him, even if the sky is overcast at best. Hesitantly, he pulls at his sleeve and asks. “We’re friends?”

Hinata goes bright red at the question, and immediately starts stammering away at excuses. “O-Only if you want to be! Sorry! I didn’t mean to overstep a boundary or anything…” He scratches the back of his head, before looking to meet Kageyama’s watchful gaze. “I like spending time with you, so I’d like to be friends. If you’re okay with that.”

Kageyama’s heart is hammering in his chest in a way that he’s never experienced before. In all his years, all of the knights and companions he’s had, even Miwa, no one had ever asked him to be friends before.

“Yeah,” he breathes, before realizing that Hinata probably hadn’t heard him. “Yes,” he says, more firmly this time. “I’d like that very much.”

Hinata smiles that blinding grin again, taking his sleeve and leading them off on their walk, chattering away about whatever comes to his mind.

Kageyama tries to pay no mind to the warmth that blossoms in his chest and stays there the rest of the day. 

* * *

As preparations for the festival draw near, their afternoon free time gets filled with more and more chores. They have to finalize the menu, watch the practices of the performers, and worst of all, he has to attend _dancing_ lessons.

It’s tradition that he must waltz with all of the potential suitors on the night of the ball, which on paper seems fine, only he dances like he has two left feet, according to his instructor, Yachi.

She’s a small blond woman, gentle with her hands but firm with her words, as she places his hand on her waist and instructs him how to properly move. He ends up stepping on her toes several times before eventually deciding that his best course of action is just to stare at his feet so that he can avoid it happening again.

“You need to look me in the eyes; otherwise how are you supposed to convince the person you’re dancing with to marry you?” she asks, forcefully tilting his head up.

In the jerky movement of his head, he spots Hinata by the door, looking like he’s trying to hold in a giggle. _He’ll pay for that later,_ he thinks.

The music comes to a close. He pulls away from Yachi, bowing his thanks to her and promising to see her again tomorrow.

After that they have a free afternoon – a rare treat these days – and he intends on spending every second of it outside, as far away from the commotion of the castle as he can.

He leads Hinata to the secluded corner of the grounds where he caught Hinata practicing his sword fighting, collapsing on a bench with an exasperated sigh. Hinata giggles, and he shoots him a glare.

“What’s so funny?” he asks, his voice tinged with annoyance. Hinata’s laughter is incredulous; he can’t even fight, which is his sole job as the prince’s personal knight, and yet he has the audacity to laugh at Kageyama for not being able to waltz?

“You’re going to look _so_ ridiculous at the ball next week.” Hinata takes a seat next to him on the bench. “Yachi is a good teacher, but I think even she can’t help this lost cause.”

Kageyama groans, burying his head in his hands. “My father is going to kill me,” he announces, half joking. Family dinner is the only time that he spends alone with his father, and the pressure that’s been placed on his shoulders to act engaged at next week’s festival feels like the weight of the world. He hasn’t been able to relax, and it was starting to bleed into his lessons.

At least that’s the excuse he’s going to give, if asked.

He feels soft hands grabbing at his wrists, prying his hands away from his face. He looks up to see Hinata kneeling in front of him, holding his hands gently. “All hope is not lost, your highness.”

Kageyama blinks, as Hinata pulls him onto his feet.

“What are you doing?” he asks, taking a step back from Hinata and almost tripping over the bench they were just sitting on. But a strong hand grabs onto the small of Kageyama’s back, pulling him back upright, almost chest to chest with Hinata.

Hinata shrugs. “When we were kids, my mom taught my sister and I how to dance. Natsu told me I was really good at it, so let me show you.”

Kageyama frowns, skeptical. But… he _does_ need the extra practice, so he nods meekly. Hinata grins.

“Okay, put your hand on my shoulder,” he instructs, taking Kageyama’s hand in his and sliding his other hand on his waist.

“Wait, this isn’t how Yachi had me do it,” Kageyama interrupts, ignoring the warmth of Hinata’s hand bleeding through his clothes where it rests on his waist, causing goosebumps to rise on his skin.

“I’ll lead this time,” Hinata explains, “just so you get a feel for the steps.”

And so Kageyama follows, Hinata leading him through a basic box step until they fall into a rhythm. Then he begins to waltz them around the garden, his hair swaying with each movement. He goes to twirl Kageyama, having to stand on his tiptoes in order to reach over his head, giggling the whole way.

Kageyama uses the opportunity to take the lead, picking Hinata up by the waist and repositioning them. He slides his hand on Hinata’s waist, holding onto his hand with a vice grip.

“Gentle,” Hinata hisses, attempting to pull his hand away. He places his other hand on Kageyama’s shoulder nonetheless and nods, gesturing for him to take the lead.

Kageyama inhales deeply, cautiously walking Hinata through the steps. Despite the lack of music, he feels like they’re trapped in their own little bubble, the sounds of the castle staff working turning into their own unique symphony.

Slowly, he gets more confident in his steps, waltzing Hinata around with ease. Hinata is keeping eye contact with him, his gaze soft, the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. Kageyama feels like he can take on the world, like Hinata’s on his side for it all. He takes a deep breath and makes a bold move.

He braces his hand on Hinata’s waist, moving it to the small of his back for more support, and dips him. Hinata yelps in surprise, his grip on Kageyama’s shoulder tightening as he looks up at him. They’re close, much closer than they thought, so close he can feel Hinata’s breath on his cheek.

All of the air leaves Kageyama’s lungs, and he freezes in place, staring into Hinata’s brown eyes and noticing how his pupils have blown wide.

Hinata breaks their eye contact, gulping in a breath of air. “Wow, uh, you’ve gotten good.”

He attempts to stand up, but Kageyama’s stiff arms keep him locked in place. Kageyama relaxes, letting Hinata step away and releasing his grip.

“Yachi will be impressed when you see her tomorrow,” he says, still not meeting Kageyama’s eyes. Kageyama notices his cheeks have the faintest dust of pink. “I have to go, I promised Natsu I’d do something for her! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Waving over his shoulder as he runs away, he leaves Kageyama alone in the garden, suddenly feeling colder than he had a few moments ago.

* * *

The week passes in a blur. Kageyama finalizes the details for the events, his father lectures him on the importance of maintaining a good reputation, and Yachi compliments his dancing.

Hinata, on the other hand, has been acting strangely towards him ever since they danced in the garden. It’s like he’s stiffened up, closed himself off to their friendship. If he were any other knight, Kageyama wouldn’t care, but the stark contrast in personality is making him concerned.

He chalks it up to nervousness about the upcoming knight’s tournament, and decides he’ll bring it up later.

The Sunday before the festival starts, it rains.

Everything is already in place, so they have the whole day to themselves, which they spend cooped up in Kageyama’s room. Hinata makes them some tea to drink as they lounge around, enjoying a moment’s rest before the chaos of the castle catches up to them.

They’d walked through the schedule for the next day together earlier – how, in the morning, Hinata was to attend a briefing with the rest of the participants in the Knight’s tournament while Kageyama was to greet guests with the king.

It went unspoken that it would be the first day in weeks that they’d start without being at each other’s sides, and even though it made Kageyama disappointed to think about, he kept his thoughts to himself.

But Hinata’s off behaviour was still worrying him, so he tried to bring up the tournament.

“Hinata, about tomorrow…” he started, trying to find the words to break the news gently, worrying that he’d sound too harsh, like he didn’t have faith in Hinata, “you know, you don’t actually _have_ to participate.”

It was a lie, of course, all of the important members of the royal cavalry/knights had to participate, as was tradition. _Stupid tradition_ , he thinks, _all it’s done is cause me trouble._

If Hinata is privy to his internal rambling, he ignores it.

“I’m excited for tomorrow!” he says excitedly. “I know I’ve never really had any _formal_ training, but I still think I have a shot at winning!”

 _Oh no_. This was going the opposite that he had planned. Instead of getting a chance to voice his worries, a chance to try to convince Hinata to withdraw, or _something_ , he was being shot down. Hinata’s absurd confidence would be the downfall of him.

“I’ll win tomorrow,” Hinata says, a determined grin on his face as he stares Kageyama down. “So just watch when I do.”

Kageyama gulps, giving Hinata a nod he can only hope is encouraging.

* * *

After Hinata leaves that afternoon, Kageyama sits through an uncomfortably long dinner with his father.

“So, the brackets for the knight’s tournament are finalized,” his father starts nonchalantly. “I see that knight of yours, Hinata is his name I think, will be up against Ushijima in the first round.”

Kageyama gulps, trying not to be too noticeable in the way he sets down his fork. Of all the people for Hinata to be up against in the tournament, his first opponent had to be the captain of the hunting guard. Standing at half a foot taller than Hinata, and with years of experience, Hinata didn’t stand a chance.

Kageyama’s heart thumped in his chest as he thought of Hinata being utterly humiliated in his first shot at a tournament. Even though he had little faith that Hinata had the skills to win it all, he had been secretly hoping his first match would be against one of the lower-level swordsmen, perhaps another new recruit, so that at least even if he lost, it would be a more even match.

“Why do you look so disappointed, son?” His father jolted him out of his thoughts. “It’s a time for celebration! You’ll meet your many suitors tomorrow, so you’d better look more cheerful before then so that you make a good impression. We wouldn’t want this whole festival to go to waste and for you come out the other side without an engagement.”

“Yes, Father,” Kageyama says, looking down at his food. He feels sick to his stomach, his attention divided between worrying about Hinata’s impending loss at tomorrow’s tournament and worrying about having to come across as palatable enough that someone will want to marry him. He needs to leave, to get somewhere where he can clear his head.

He excuses himself from the table, his plate virtually untouched. He makes an excuse about needing to rest up before tomorrow and returns to his bed, turning himself in for a night of fitful sleep.

* * *

Spending the morning without Hinata is oddly quiet.

The space feels too empty as he dresses in clothes far more formal than he’d like, Hinata’s absence taking up more of the atmosphere than the sense of dread looming over his head or the excited chattering outside of his door.

At least the sun is shining in Hinata’s stead, reminding Kageyama that he has a duty to fulfil, and that he’ll see Hinata later anyways.

Satisfied with his logic, he heads downstairs to start the day’s festivities. 

Greeting the guests ends up being almost unbearably boring.

Hundreds of people line up for his attention, some of which he remembers from his studies. He tries to give them extra attention in the form of a kiss on the hand or an attempted smile, but after twenty minutes their faces all blur together into something totally unrecognizable.

He’s tired, both physically and mentally, the sun high in the sky by the time he’s finished. Though his day is far from over.

Instead of lunch, he decides to head to the stadium where the afternoon’s tournament will take place, sneaking around to the chambers where he knows everyone will be getting ready.

Everyone he passes either tries to bow for him or assist him, but he’s not here for pleasantries. He knows where he’s going and he’s on a mission to get there.

He finds Hinata in one of the dressing rooms, huddled away in a corner. He must have just finished something outside, because he’s dressed down to the barest of clothing Kageyama’s ever seen him in, his thin undershirt clinging to his chest from the thin layer of sweat that coats his skin.

For the first time, Kageyama notices how _muscular_ Hinata is. He’s always noticed he was short, but he always figured the knight was fairly scrawny under his breastplate. But now he can see how his shoulders are broad, showcasing strong biceps and equally muscular pecs. It’s not what he would have expected from someone who was a cook most of his life, but he figures that perhaps all of the physical labour associated with the job must have done him some favours.

Hinata hasn’t noticed him enter yet, too entranced with polishing a shield – a loaner embellished with the royal emblem, a crow on a blue background.

“Hinata,” he calls out, catching the way Hinata inhales sharply when he spots Kageyama across the room. “I came to wish you good luck.”

Hinata stands up, crossing the room to stand toe and toe with Kageyama. “Thanks, I think I could use it.”

He looks at him expectantly, his eyes wide and his cheeks slightly flushed, almost like he’s expecting something, though Kageyama doesn’t know what.

Kageyama reaches out tentatively to touch him, but not knowing what exactly to do, lets his hand drop onto Hinata’s shoulder.

“Just don’t get hurt out there,” he decides, giving Hinata’s shoulder a final squeeze.

He turns to leave, but Hinata grabs his wrist.

“If I win, do I get your handkerchief or something?” he laughs, and the tension between them dissipates. He releases his grip on Kageyama, waving goodbye. “I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah,” Kageyama affirms. He heads through the stadium, up to the seats that he and his father will be watching from.

“Where were you?” his father asks when he falls into step at his side.

“I was just double checking that the event would run smoothly,” he lies. It’s not entirely baseless – he was checking to make sure that things would go fine with Hinata – but his intentions with sneaking around behind the scenes stem beyond his standard duties.

He follows his father to their seats, seeing the crowd all standing in their seats until his father takes a seat.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he announces. “Thank you all for coming. I know many of you have travelled far in order to come and celebrate Prince Kageyama’s coming of age, so the least we can do is entertain you.”

The crowd erupts in applause before he continues. “Our first match up should be very interesting! We have a rookie, the prince’s own personal guard Hinata Shouyou in one corner, and in the other, we have Ushijima Wakatoshi, the captain of the Palace guard.”

Kageyama watches as the two emerge from their respective sides of the stadium. Hinata is clad in chainmail armour, a breastplate resting atop his broad shoulders, his sword and shield in his right hand and his helmet tucked under his left arm. He stops in the middle of the field to put it on, squishing down his red locks.

On the other side emerges Ushijima. Even from a distance Kageyama can see how he towers over Hinata. He’s built entirely of muscle and experience, and his strong aura can be felt from the stadium. He stares Hinata down as he puts on his helmet, readying his sword in his left hand.

“Will the difference in experience here make or break the fight?” the king announces. “Or will we have an upset in our very first battle? Knights, ready your swords, you may begin!”

He watches as both of them ready their stances, beginning to circle around each other, slowly getting closer to each other.

Ushijima takes the first swing, stepping into a lunge as he tries to get to Hinata, but his sword clangs against Hinata’s shield, blocked at an awkward angle due to Ushijima’s left handedness.

Hinata’s reflexes are quick, Kageyama notes. Being able to react that fast is a skill that doesn’t come naturally to most knights, especially when dealing with a left handed attacker. He tries to keep his face void of expression, even though he knows Hinata can’t see him. He can’t let the dumbass know he was actually impressed.

Hinata takes a step back, recentering his body weight before he tries to advance on Ushijima, swinging his sword, but his move is obvious, and Ushijima blocks it with ease.

He tries again, his sword clashing with Ushijima’s as they press against each other before Hinata rolls out to the side, hitting the dirt ground with a thump. Kageyama can see a wince from the stands, and notices a small gash on Hinata’s cheekbone, right along his jaw.

He reaches up to press against his fight, but with his guard down, Ushijima advances, clashing their swords together once more until Hinata topples to the ground on his back, his arm falling to his side in defeat.

Ushijima points his sword to Hinata’s chest, touching the tip of the blade to his breast plate and pressing his foot onto Hinata’s wrist, effectively stopping him from being able to fight back.

An official advances towards the pair, lifting Ushijima’s hand in the air triumphantly. The whole match had lasted less than a minute, and Hinata was sprawled on the ground in defeat.

Kageyama watches as he stands, bowing to Ushijima, then the crowd as the audience erupts in applause. He catches Hinata’s eye when he’s turned to face him before Hinata bows and leaves. He watches the other matches, but he’s too distracted to pay much attention, only clapping when everyone else claps and standing when the event is announced over. He doesn’t even know who the victor is, just that everyone in the audience seems pleased with the outcome.

As soon as his father stands up to leave, Kageyama bolts out of his seat, following calmly until he is out of the view of the public before weaving through the crowd. He wants to find Hinata, to see him again and yell at him for getting his ass kicked, for causing Kageyama worry. He wants to see him, console him for his loss, maybe offer to teach him – properly this time instead of whatever two day training the guard saw fit for a knight that was bound to quit anyways.

He dashes to his room, hoping to find Hinata there. It’s his only option right now; he doesn’t know where Hinata lives in the castle, or where else he’d go, since they spend all their spare time together anyways. 

The door bursts open as he barges into the room, only to find Hinata already there, lounging on one of the armchairs like he’s in his own home. He’s facing away from Kageyama, but the sound of the doors throws him off and he turns his head to see Kageyama’s frantic expression.

“Hinata,” he breathes, sighing in relief when he sees that Hinata is mostly unharmed, except for a small bandage that adorns his cheek. “What are you – how did you get here?”

“I came here as soon as I got checked out by a nurse. She said I’m fine by the way,” Hinata reassures him. “The cut was very shallow, and I just need to keep the bandage on until tomorrow while the medicine absorbs so it doesn’t get infected. I just told the guards outside your door that you told me to wait for you here.”

Hinata is laughing as he recounts the story, but Kageyama just looks on in shock. This wasn’t at all what he expected Hinata to act like after a devastating loss. The laughter falls quiet, and a blanket of silence surrounds them, suffocating and making it hard to move, hard to breathe, and Kageyama is almost fearful of the next movement he takes.

He’s trapped in thought, how could he let this happen to Hinata? How could he ignore that he needed training before he went and made a fool of himself in front of everyone, possibly damaging his confidence? 

Hinata is staring at him, his footsteps quietly approaching Kageyama until they stand a mere five feet apart. “So I guess this is why you kept trying to talk me out of it, huh?” he asks, shattering the silence.

“Huh?” Kageyama blurts out, caught off guard. While that’s technically what he was trying to do, he didn’t expect Hinata to question him on it. “No. That’s not it.”

He shuts his mouth, trying to grasp at words that won’t make him sound like an asshole with no faith in Hinata.

“I just saw the matchups before. I thought maybe… if I could convince you to withdraw, you might get a chance to get better, to stand an even ground against that guy.” He gulps audibly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to –”

“It’s not like I could have withdrawn anyways,” Hinata interrupts, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s tradition for the personal knights to fight in these tournaments, right?”

Kageyama blinks. He _knew_ that this was part of Hinata’s duties in his service to Kageyama and the royal family, deep down it was there. He’d seen it happen when they held the same festival for Miwa, it just must have slipped his mind or something. 

“I’ve been to these events in the past, when it was Princess Miwa’s courting ball, but I never really paid much attention to who it was that was fighting, I was always distracted by the flashy swords and all that. It was only when I went to the registration table and the guy running it told me it must be an honour to fight for the prince that I realized there was no way I could’ve ever gotten out of this.” He sighs, releasing his arms to his sides in defeat. “Besides, you didn’t think I knew this was coming? I don’t know if you know, but whenever we had free time that wasn’t spent together, I was out there in the gardens practicing, trying to get better!”

“Yeah, I saw.” Kageyama huffs. “You sucked.”

That pulls a smile from Hinata, who had begun to look a bit crestfallen as he talked about his defeat.

“Oi!” he fights back. “I bet you didn’t do much better on your first time fighting either.”

“At least my first time fighting was with an instructor during practice, not in front of the entire royal court.” Kageyama teases, finally letting his voice drop into a softer tone. “You can’t get better by just practicing on your own, dumbass. You need to learn the basics from someone who actually knows them.”

“Yeah, but who would I even go to to teach me?” Hinata asks defensively, like he already tried to go down this route before unsuccessfully. “It’s like the guy who trained me didn’t think I’d last more than a day.”

Kageyama winces, knowing that whoever trained Hinata probably _did_ think that, given his own track record with driving people away. However, he _does_ have an idea about how to answer Hinata’s question.

“I could teach you.”

Hinata’s eyes light up like stars, a childlike joy filling his whole body. “Kageyama, you can fight?”

“Of course I can fight, dumbass. I’m the crown prince; they made me learn this stuff when I could barely walk. It shouldn’t be that surprising.”

“I don’t know,” Hinata ponders. “You just don’t seem the type.”

“Huh!?” Kageyama exclaims. “What do you mean?”

“Hmmm, I can’t quite put my tongue on it,” Hinata teases. “It’s just that you’re pampered – no, wait, that’s not the word I’m looking for. Prissy? Spoiled? No, that’s not it either. You get the point, though; I just wouldn’t have expected the crown prince to be willing to teach one of his own knights.”

Kageyama’s jaw drops. No one has ever teased him like this, not even Miwa. As children, they were always under someone’s watchful eye, so it’s refreshing to have someone just willing to poke fun at him sometimes and put him in his place. And it’s not like the smile Hinata wears as he does so is any less pleasant to look at.

“Well, I guess I’ll rescind my offer then. Wouldn’t want someone _prissy_ teaching you to sword fight, would we? I was going to repay the favour from when you taught me dancing, but I guess I don’t have to, since I’m pampered after all…”

“No, please! Kageyamaaaa,” Hinata tugs on Kageyama’s sleeve while he whines. “I suck so bad. Teach me, please!”

Kageyama tries to play it cool, but he can tell by the wide grin Hinata sports that it must not be working very well.

“It’ll be fun!” Hinata taunts, trying to wrestle Kageyama’s arms out of the way they’ve crossed against his chest. “It’ll just be you and me, crossing swords outside, away from the rush of everything inside the palace walls. We could even do it the morning of the ball! Everyone will be so busy that no one will probably even notice that we’ve gone out.”

Kageyama ponders. – A way to spend the morning with Hinata and de-stress before he inevitably makes a disaster of himself at the ball? That _does_ sound enticing.

“Okay.” He agrees. “Let’s do it then.”

* * *

The next day passes in a blur. Hinata stands still by his side, three steps away and slightly behind as the visitors all present their gifts. Most of the people are just noblemen, there on behalf of the royalty they represent, so he can’t even try to discern the potential suitors he’s supposed to know from the list his father provided.

In the afternoon, they make an appearance in the town square, where the citizens have prepared food and music and dance in the streets. They walk through the crowd, waving their hellos and thanking the townspeople, when Hinata comments on how his sister would like it here a lot.

Kageyama invites Hinata upstairs to unwind a bit from the day’s events, mostly because he himself feels wound up, nerves about tomorrow’s ball creeping up his neck, overtaking all of his thoughts.

Hinata’s presence is calming as they walk up the stairs, joking about the ridiculous hat one of the squires had worn to present their gift, complete with twigs assembled to resemble a bird’s nest matching the feathers adorning the brim.

It’s only once they’re behind the closed doors of Kageyama’s room does Hinata drop the act.

“You’re anxious about something,” he states, plain but unaccusing. “What is it?”

Kageyama twiddles his fingers. He knows that Hinata must sense the insecurities prickling at his seams, threatening to burst.

“It’s the ball tomorrow,” he starts, his tongue heavy in his mouth as he searches for words. The silence grows between them.

Hinata tilts his head forward, like he’s waiting for Kageyama to continue, to elaborate. He rolls his words around his tongue, trying to put his anxieties into words.

“I’m not like my sister,” he decides. “When we were young, our father – the king – decided that I would be the one to take the crown instead of her even though she’s older. So when she became of age, she was able to marry for love. Meanwhile, me,” he sighs, thinking of the lists he’s had to memorize in preparation for this event. “As the crown prince, I’m expected to marry someone who will benefit the entire kingdom, which severely limits my options.”

“I thought that’s how it worked for royalty.” Hinata says, choosing his words carefully. “You always have to marry someone else who’s royal, no?”

Hinata isn’t technically _wrong_ , Kageyama thinks. “It’s just that my choices are limited to only about five people.” He sighs deeply, the admission feeling like a weight off his chest. “And…. Well, you know the rumours. How people talk about me. With such limited options, I find it hard to believe I’m going to convince any of them to love me.”

“Didn’t you use to think that about your knights, though?” Hinata asks. “And we became friends, didn’t we? Why wouldn’t finding someone to marry be any different?”

Kageyama freezes, but Hinata doesn’t stop talking.

“I _know_ what the people say; I’ve lived in my palace my whole life, so I’ve heard it all. But you’re different, Kageyama. You’re kind, you’re funny, you’re handsome. All of these are things they’ll find desirable at the ball tomorrow.” He steps forward, taking Kageyama’s hands and unknotting them from where he’s twisted them in his waistcoat. “You can’t count them out before you’ve even tried.”

Kageyama stares at where Hinata holds his hands, Hinata’s words repeating over and over in his mind, fixated on _you’re kind, you’re funny, you’re handsome._ Before he can stop it, a question slips his tongue.

“Why did you save me that day?”

It comes out so fast, almost completely incomprehensible. Hinata meets his eyes, clearly confused at his words, willing him to repeat himself.

“Shouyou,” he says, the given name sounding unfamiliar as he speaks. “That day in the garden, you saved me. You were utterly reckless, jumping in front of me and using a _pot lid_ as a shield, but no one else jumped in to save me but you. Why?”

Kageyama’s heart is pounding in his chest as he waits for Hinata’s answer, but Hinata doesn’t look the slightest bit embarrassed like how Kageyama feels. Instead, he seems to be grinning, squeezing his hands around Kageyama’s in a crushing grip.

“Well, like you said, no one else jumped in to save you, did they? And it’s not like I could let the crown prince die right in front of me because some archer had awful aim.”

“But then later, you took the promotion to be my knight, without any hesitation at all, even though you sucked at it!”

“Hey, I do _not_ suck at it, thank you very much,” Hinata says defensively. “It’s not like I could refuse a direct order from the King you know.”

“But…” Kageyama trails off. Despite all that Hinata must have heard about him, he wasn’t offput at all when he first met Kageyama. He didn’t act surprised when Kageyama had asked him to tell _everything_ about himself, he only answered happily

His crestfallen face must show, because Hinata sighs, releasing Kageyama’s hands. “If you _really_ must know, I wasn’t off put or anything by you because I’ve seen you. Ever since I was a child, I watched you grow up from within the castle walls, and I _knew_ you were different. Everyone always talks about the cold hearted prince, but would someone with a frozen heart spend hours by the pond, just to watch the frogs jump on the lily pads? Would someone cold hearted say thank you to everyone they come across? Would they refuse to be called by their title, just because of how impersonal it feels? Whether you believe it or not Kageyama, you’re _different_. And if I can see it, others can too; most just don’t look hard enough.”

Not knowing what to take from that monologue and trying to will the beating of his heart to calm down, he goes the teasing route. “So you’ve been watching me, then?”

“God, yes!” Hinata groans. “Happy now?”

Kageyama grins, receiving a matching grin in return; Hinata looks pleased now that Kageyama’s feeling better.

“Can we stop now?” Hinata asks. “We should both get our beauty sleep so I can beat you in training tomorrow.”

“In your dreams, dumbass.”

* * *

The next morning, there is a quiet commotion throughout the castle. There are no events scheduled before noon, everyone too busy preparing for the evening’s ball to bother with the usual daily ongoings of the royal palace.

In the halls of the palace, people are scampering about, trying to accomplish everything left to do before the grand event. But once Kageyama steps outside, it all dissipates, like he’s left the bubble of commotion behind.

He’d instructed Hinata to meet him in the training coliseum, knowing that they’d have full access to all of the equipment they’d need. He was a bit chilly in the simple tunic he was wearing, but he needed the full mobility it provides. When he’d dug it out of his drawers this morning, the similarities between the garment and what Hinata usually wore wasn’t not lost on him, and he wondered how the dark blue would look against his skin.

He entered the coliseum, finding Hinata already there, polishing the sword he usually wore on his belt with an old rag.

“Good morning”, Kageyama says. “You won’t be needing that.”

“Good morning to you too,” Hinata grunts, putting the sword into its sheath with a grumpy expression on his face. “Usually people start off with things like ‘how are you’ or ‘how’d you sleep,’ you know.”

Kageyama blinks. “Well, I hope you slept well. Otherwise, it’ll be hard to run this lesson effectively.”

“I _did_ sleep well, thanks for asking.” Hinata is grinning now, the teasing seemingly lifting him out of his grumpy mood. “Besides, it’s not like this will be our only lesson, right?”

“Right…” Kageyama trails off, not knowing what to say next. He sees the way Hinata’s fingers twitch, itching to start. “I guess we’ll start with the basics then.”

He crosses the room to the small shed, thrusting the doors open to reveal the selection of wooden training swords inside.

“Take one.” He nudges Hinata forward. Hinata ponders over the options, selecting one that’s a similar size to his own. He grips it tightly, his knuckles starting to strain through his skin from the effort.

“Loosen your hand,” Kageyama instructs, placing his hand over Hinata’s to demonstrate the proper hold of the sword. “Now hold it closer to the hilt. For a two handed sword, you want one hand right up against the hilt and the other at the very end of the handle.”

Hinata nods, letting Kageyama guide his hands into the correct positions.

“Much better,” Kageyama praises, letting go to grab a sword of his own. “Grab a shield and follow me.”

They walk out of the small room, equipment in hand, to the training area with a dirt floor, something that will be soft on their bodies if they get knocked over.

“Show me what you know already,” Kageyama instructs. “I know that fool didn’t teach you much, but I know you’re not entirely awful, so I want to see what I’m working with.”

“Well.” Hinata goes to scratch at his neck, seemingly forgetting the shield strapped to his arm that almost smacks him in the face. “He mostly focused on more advanced techniques, but I struggled to keep up because I barely knew the basics.”

Kageyama sighs, _of course_ whoever trained Hinata had jumped into the deep end with him. He probably didn’t realize that he was training someone with no previous sword fighting experience. “Okay, we’ll start at square one then. Show me your stance.”

Hinata takes position, holding himself with his feet shoulder width apart and his knees slightly bent.

“Not bad,” Kageyama hums, circling around him. “But it’s better if you stand with one foot slightly in front, it’ll give you more mobility while you’re fighting.”

Hinata corrects his position, Beaming at Kageyama, waiting for instructions of what to do next.

“So, when swinging your sword, there are four planes you can use to attack,” he demonstrates, running his sword vaguely on a wooden board to show the lines of attack, straight up and down, across, and both diagonals. “An important element of proper sword fighting is not only being able to utilize those planes, but also to learn how to defend against them.”

He gestures for Hinata to advance, blocking his sword at the start of its approach. He repeats the demonstration for all the planes, before changing the focus to Hinata and having him apply his newfound knowledge.

“Another important element of sword fighting,” Kageyama continues his lesson, still sparring at Hinata. “Is rhythm. If you get too predictable, your opponent will be able to counter you very easily.”

“I see,” Hinata hums, before he quickly twists his wrists while blocking one of Kageyama’s advances, effectively disarming him. Seeing Kageyama’s dumbstruck face, he uses the opportunity to point the tip of his sword at Kageyama’s chin, tilting his head up so their eyes meet.

“Like this?” he asks innocently.

Kageyama’s heart is pounding so loud in his ears that he almost doesn’t hear Hinata’s question. His hands are clammy as he pushes the sword away from his face,

“Yeah,” he mutters, averting his eyes. “That was good.”

He gulps audibly, taking a step back, needing to create a physical distance between himself and Hinata right now, otherwise he worries he might set fire with the way his skin burns under Hinata’s gaze.

“I, uh, I need to go,” he stammers, turning and looking over his shoulders. “To, um. Get ready for the ball. I’ll see you later then?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer as he storms out of the coliseum, a hot blush on his face and the phantom sensation of a training sword pulsing below his chin.

* * *

Although most of the Royal family employed an entire league of servants to help them with all of their activities of daily life, Kageyama always preferred to do as much of it himself as he could. He had someone run him a hot bath and soaked in the tub, scrubbing away at the dirt under his nails from the morning’s training.

After he was dried off, it was a simple task to dress himself, his outfit for the ball consisting of simple, white pants that clung to his legs, a navy jacket, and a red sash tied at his waist. On top of it all, he draped a cloak around his shoulders, the same navy as his jacket, embellished with golden embroidered leaves throughout the hem and a golden crow on the back.

He’s securing his last button when Hinata enters the room, dressed in a simple but ornate tunic over a white blouse, the colour and embroidery matching Kageyama’s quite nicely.

Kageyama turns away from the mirror he was using to help guide his hands, admiring how Hinata looks once he’s all cleaned up. His wild red hair has been combed neatly to the side (or as neatly as it possibly can, given the unruly waves he usually sports). He looks… _good_. The navy blue actually makes his sun-kissed skin pop, and his eyes shine brighter than usual.

He’s about to say as much when Hinata interrupts him, with an awestruck, “You look gorgeous.”

He flushes deeply at the compliment, averting his eyes from Hinata’s face and noticing that his sword is still attached at his hip, only now he carries himself with proper posture, the sheath no longer dragging him down. Kageyama smiles at the thought – his lesson from this morning must be starting to take effect.

“Well then,” Hinata says, still a bit breathless, like he ran a mile to get to Kageyama. “Are you ready to go then? I’ll be your escort for the evening.”

Kageyama shakes his head, gesturing to the small crown that still sits on the table, the thin circlet of gold looking almost intimidating with the pillars of jewels that adorn it.

Hinata crosses the threshold, picking up the crown carefully and examining it, running his fingers along the edges.

“I’ve never seen it so close before,” he says. “Can I put it on for you?”

“What? No,” Kageyama rejects immediately. “You’re too short to even reach up here.”

“Am not!” Hinata protests. “You know you can just bend over and then I’d be able to reach, right? Please, just let me do this for you.”

“Fine,” Kageyama huffs, leaning forward slightly so that Hinata can reach his head more easily. At this angle, he’s staring at Hinata’s feet, so he sees when Hinata rises onto his tippy toes to reach him; he holds back a snicker for fear of ruining the moment.

Hinata pats his head, smoothing down his hair and gently combing most of it to one side with his fingers, before delicately placing the crown. He gets down from his toes and takes a step back, admiring his work.

“There,” he says. “Now you look like a true prince. Your hair looks good like that, by the way.”

Kageyama turns to the mirror once more, seeing that Hinata had truly done a great job. The way he styled his hair, pushing most of it to the left and back but letting a few strands lay under the crown, framing his face. He looks handsome, sophisticated but still youthful. He smiles at his appearance, a sudden burst of confidence.

He smiles at Hinata, who is looking at him through the mirror, turning around to face him. “I guess I’m ready then.”

“Yeah,” Hinata says, smiling but with a tinge of sadness to his voice. “Let’s get you a fiancé.”

The walk to the ballroom is laden with tension between them. Hinata trails slightly behind Kageyama, but still close enough that he can be seen in Kageyama’s peripheral vision.

“I’m nervous.” Kageyama admits. He knows it’s probably obvious to Hinata, but still he feels the need to voice it.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He rubs his palms against his pants in an attempt to warm them. “My hands feel like ice.”

Hinata grabs his hand from where he rubs it, effectively stopping him in his tracks. He steps in front of Kageyama and takes the other hand too, squeezing them tightly.

“You just need to get blood flowing there and they’ll warm up in no time.” He smiles at Kageyama, the flash of white teeth both blinding and a comfort. “It’ll go fine, I promise.”

“Okay.” They take a deep breath together, reluctantly releasing their hands and turning towards the doors to the ballroom. “I think I’m ready to join in now.”

The guards stationed in front of the ballroom pull open the doors, revealing the party occurring behind them. Someone at the top of the steps pounds his staff into the floor to gain the crowd’s attention.

“I present to you his Royal Highness, Prince Kageyama Tobio, as well as his personal knight, Sir Hinata Shouyou.”

They step into the light, the visuals of the ball overwhelming to his senses. There are banners and golden decorations on the walls, a small orchestra playing music in the corner. About a hundred guests crowd together on the dance floor, though some dwindle off to the side near the tables upon tables of food.

They descend the stairs to be met by the King.

“You understand the protocol for tonight, yes?” he asks Kageyama, his words stiff. He doesn’t even offer up a smile to help ease his son’s nerves on one of the most important nights of his life.

“Yes, Father,” Kageyama keeps his voice equally stoic, seeing how Hinata stiffens at his side in the King’s presence. “I’ll just make a round of greetings and mingle a little before I approach someone for a dance.”

“Very good,” the King praises. “Off you go then.”

Kageyama strides past his father, beelining straight for the food table, Hinata trailing two steps behind him.

“So I guess I’ll hang around here while you’re off dancing then?” he asks, trying to lighten the mood.

Kageyama hums in assent, taking a mini pastry from the table and shoving it in his mouth, just to have something to do with his hands.

“I guess I’ll be off then. I can see the first dance of the night making faces at me from across the dance floor.” He leaves Hinata by the food, weaving through the crowd of people until he’s face to face with the blond man of his nightmares.

Miya Atsumu is the prince from a kingdom that shares its borders with Kageyama’s. He’s actually rumoured to be the eldest son, born seven minutes before his twin brother Osamu, but his terrible attitude is rumoured to have cost him his own thrown when he was just a teenager, the title being given to the more level-headed Osamu instead. Atsumu having close ties to the power there, as well as being marriage eligible, had shot him to the top of the King’s list of potential suitors. Specifically, he thought the marriage would be an excellent trade opportunity between the two kingdoms.

Both twins are dressed in outfits similar to Kageyama’s but in their signature maroon and gold colours. The only thing that distinguishes them is their hair, Osamu’s being a natural dark brown while Atsumu is sporting an incredibly unnatural looking blonde.

“Prince Atsumu, Prince Osamu,” Kageyama bows his head at the twins.

Osamu bows back politely, but Atsumu scoffs at him. “Drop the formalities, Tobio-kun. Let’s get this stupid dance over with anyways.”

“Yes, let’s.” Kageyama grits his teeth, taking Atsumu’s arm and leading him to the dance floor.

The music starts to play, and Kageyama thinks back to the steps Yachi had taught him, that _Hinata_ had taught him, but it’s much harder to dance a waltz in theory than it is in practice, especially when your partner is as insufferable as Miya Atsumu.

For one, Atsumu seems distracted for the first minute of their dance, constantly keeping his eyes glued to the spot where he stood. Kageyama squints as he tries to spot what’s captured Atsumu’s attention, noticing Osamu standing between two tall men, one of which has dark black hair that sweeps off down the middle, the other of which has two moles on his forehead, peeking out from under his curly hair. All three of them wear unamused expressions as they watch Kageyama and Atsumu’s dance.

“So,” Kageyama tries, now that his feet have found their rhythm. “Who are your travel companions there?”

“Oh, them? That’s Suna and Sakusa – we’ve known them since we were pretty young. I guess you could say they’re friends of ours, but they know their way around swords too, when we need them to be.”

“I see,” Kageyama hums. One thing he had failed to do in all his preparation for the ball was come up with conversation topics.

“That knight of yours that you entered with, he’s cute,” Atsumu offers out of nowhere. “You should be careful tonight; I’m sure someone will try and snatch him up.”

“Is that your way of telling me you’d prefer my knight to me?” Kageyama questions, feeling his shoulders stiffen at the accusation. Atsumu is technically right, Hinata _did_ look very good all dressed up for the ball, but surely he had no interest in finding someone to marry of his own tonight, right?

“Who, me?” Atsumu laughs. “Don’t flatter yourself too much Tobio-kun. Truth be, I’m not really interested in marrying either of you, but I think you could tell that already, couldn’t you? I’m just here to satisfy my old man, then I’ll be out of your hair.”

Atsumu spins under Kageyama’s arm as the music swells to a crescendo and ends. He nods to Kageyama, bidding him farewell before he dashes off to where the other three are waiting, his forced smiles immediately melting into something more genuine.

Kageyama saunters back to the food, Hinata greeting him with a reassuring smile.

“There, there,” Hinata says. “It’s only the first one; you’ll have other chances tonight.”

He nods off to the side, where a young woman waits patiently for his attention.

“Ah, Princess Kiyoko!” Kageyama explains, dropping off into a court bow while she offers him a small curtsy in return. “Are you ready to dance?”

She nods, offering out her arm for him to take as he leads her back onto the dance floor.

Kiyoko is from a kingdom that’s far away from his own, but her kingdom and his own have always had a good relationship. His father had suggested it was about time they be joined by marriage.

The Princess herself is quite reserved, really only providing half answers to Kageyama’s attempts at small talk during the dance. As soon as the music stops, she offers another curtsy in thanks and dashes off.

He doesn’t even get a chance to return to his home base by the food tables where Hinata is when he’s approached again, this time by a princess only a few centimeters shorter than him who smiles brightly at him.

“Your highness.” She bows her head only slightly. “I believe it’s my turn to take you for a spin on the dance floor?”

“Yes, I’d be delighted to, Princess Kanoka.” He takes her hand and waits for the orchestra to start the next song.

Right off the bat, Kageyama can tell he likes Kanoka. Compared to the other two, she seems much more extroverted and bubbly, like she’d be able to fill the silences Kageyama was prone to starting. She almost reminds him of Hinata, but he pushes that thought down as he puts his hand on her waist.

Despite them being positioned so that he would lead, within the first few steps of the dance Kanoka takes control, leading Kageyama around the dance floor the way Hinata had led him around the garden.

“Actually,” she whispers, giddy the way she leans in close. “it’s soon to be Queen Kanoka.”

“Congratulations,” he offers. He knew that, of course. According to his notes there were six months remaining to her coronation.

“So you understand that I can’t marry you, right?” she says. “It’s just, once I’m Queen, I don’t think I’ll have time for a husband. Especially not one who has his own kingdom to run.”

“I see,” Kageyama hums, mentally adding another strike to his list of potential suitors.

“I’m sure we’ll still see each other.” She offers him a sympathetic smile. “We’ll probably end up working together a lot.”

“I’m sure we will.” He bows to her as the music ends, offering her an attempt of a smile of his own.

He returns to Hinata, who holds two glasses of wine in his hands.

“No luck again?” he asks, offering one of the glasses to Kageyama. “Try one of these, it might help.”

He presses the drink into Kageyama’s hand, forcefully bending his fingers around the glass, and perhaps it's from all the dancing, but Kageyama’s skin is on fire.

He brings the glass to his lips, taking swig after swig of the sweet wine until the glass is empty and a pleasant buzz begins to course through his body.

“Can you get me another one?” he asks, to which Hinata nods excitedly and hurries off to fetch them more drinks.

While he waits, he scans the ballroom, trying to find other partygoers he might recognize. He sees Miwa and her husband, who must have arrived some time that day, but they seem deep in conversation and Kageyama doesn’t want to interrupt. He sweeps his eyes a little further and finds Atsumu is still where he last saw him, only now he clutches the arm of the curly haired man, who sports a small smile that can barely be seen from this distance. A few feet further and he sees both Princess Kanoka and Princess Kiyoko mingling with Yachi. The three of them seem to be laughing over some joke, and Kageyama admires how happy they look hanging out together. Maybe instead of a husband, Kanoka might just be more interested in taking a wife.

Hinata returns with the two glasses of wine, passing Kageyama’s back to him instantly.

“Is it starting to kick in?” he asks, taking a sip of his own drink.

“Not enough,” Kageyama hums. “Not yet at least.”

“Well, keep drinking that liquid courage then,” Hinata laughs. “When I was refilling the wine, I ran into someone at the bar who was looking for you – his name was Kenma. I told him where we were, and I think he’s going to be joining us shortly.”

Kageyama nods. Lord Kozume, the ‘Kenma’ that Hinata speaks of, is the head of one of the upper ranking noble families of his kingdom. Although there wasn’t much political benefit that came from marrying him, he had been left on the list as a potential suitor due to his already high status.

He arrives at Hinata’s side in a moment’s time, standing too close for comfort (Kageyama’s comfort, at least). “Shouyou,” he nods at Hinata, addressing him first before offering up a “Your highness,” to Kageyama.

“Lord Kozume,” he says courtly, a bitterness sitting on his tongue that’s not entirely from the wine. “How nice of you to join us.”

“I know we’re supposed to dance together later this evening, but that’s not really my thing.” Kozume says. “So when I saw Shouyou getting you wine at the bar, I figured it would be best to spare ourselves the embarrassment of attempting to dance in front of all these people.”

Kageyama’s stomach twists at his continued use of Hinata’s given name. It doesn’t feel right to hear it being said, when he hasn’t used it himself despite theoretically being closer to Hinata.

“A good decision,” he says, keeping all of his attention on Hinata. “Say, do you know when they’ll be serving the meals?”

“Yes, Shouyou,” Kozume turns to Hinata as well. “We didn’t finish our conversation earlier, but you said you used to work in the kitchens before, right? Did you do any work on the food at this feast?”

“Ah, yes!” Hinata answers, flashing a bright smile. “I actually helped develop the recipe for the soup they’ll be serving as an appetizer.”

“I’ll look forward to it then.”

Kageyama chugs the remainder of his glass, the wine feeling warm as it sloshes in his stomach.

“We should really go be finding a seat now.” He loops his arm around Hinata, dragging him away from the conversation. “It was nice talking with you, Kozume.”

Hinata protests the whole way to the table, trying to struggle out of Kageyama’s grasp.

“Hey, what’s with you?”

Kageyama sighs, releasing Hinata’s arm. “I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed as all.”

Now that all the guests are seated, waiters come around passing bowls of soup, filling up wine and water glasses alike.

“So… this is the recipe you came up with?” he asks. Kageyama knows nothing about cooking, so he’s not sure what to ask, but he _does_ know he wants to talk more about Hinata’s other interests the way Kozume had.

“Well, I didn’t _come up_ with it,” Hinata laughs. “The recipe has been passed down for quite some time; I just helped give it a modern update, is all. I hope you like it.”

Kageyama raises a spoonful to his lips, blowing gently to cool off the steam. The aroma is heavenly, he can tell from here, with the scent of the garlic and spices flooding his senses. He pouts the spoon in his mouth, letting the flavours reach his taste buds and _wow,_ it’s good. He had no doubt that Hinata must have been a good cook if he was working on recipe development, but this was one of the best foods he’s ever tasted.

“Wow,” he mutters, quiet enough that he thinks no one else can hear, but he feels Hinata chuckle in amusement at his side. He takes spoonful after spoonful of the soup, sometimes pausing to take a sip of his wine to cool his tongue when he eats so fast he burns himself. Through it all, Hinata remains giddy, laughing at Kageyama throughout the meal.

“You enjoyed it, I take?” he jokes, taking a sip of his own wine and passing his half eaten bowl to the waiter coming to collect it.

“Yes,” Kageyama grumbles, because he _did_ enjoy it, more than he thought he would. “How do you make it?”

Hinata looks taken aback at the request, furrowing his eyebrows at Kageyama. “You want to know how to cook soup?”

“Yes?” Kageyama asks, his alcohol laden mind wondering if he didn’t make that clear enough the first time he asked.

“It’s just surprising, is all.” Hinata comments. “No one ever really asks about the cooking – they just expect food on the table and for the cooks to make it for them. It’s nice to have someone show an interest for a change.”

His expression morphs from the confusion earlier into one of happiness, his cheeks beginning to flush from the alcohol.

“I can show you how to make it sometime,” he offers. “Does that sound good?”

Kageyama nods excitedly, ignoring the waiter coming to refill his wine again. “That sounds great.”

They pass the second course with bits of small talk, sharing laughs between bites of food and sips of wine as Kageyama points out all of the notable people at the ball and tries to make impressions of them. They’re absolutely awful, so inaccurate that if any of these people heard him, they’d probably throw a fit, but Kageyama is happy to withstand their rage if it means he can make Hinata laugh like he is now.

His stomach is in knots, which he takes as a lingering side effect from the earlier nerves, as the waiters come and reluctantly refill his glass. He’s beginning to lose track of exactly how much he’s drank, and his words now come slower, his brain and body both beginning to feel sluggish.

His father comes to join their table, smiling brightly to keep up the appearance of being a good father.

“How’s it going, Tobio my boy! Are you hearing wedding bells yet?”

His voice feels delayed when it reaches Kageyama’s ears, and in the second it takes his brain to catch up and answer a simple no, the King’s expression falls.

“He’s absolutely wasted, isn’t he?” he says in a harsh tone, leaning in close to Hinata so no one else overhears them. “How much has he had?”

“’Dunno,” Kageyama answers, wanting to join back into the conversation that was clearly about him. “Five? Six maybe?”

“Get him out of here,” the king hisses at Hinata. “Before he makes an absolute mess of himself. I’ll make an excuse for him.”

He turns away, storming back towards wherever he came from.

“Alright, Kageyama,” Hinata pats his back, his eyes crinkling. “Let’s go.”

With a little bit of help and a lot of near falls, Hinata gets him out of the ballroom and back into his bedroom. As soon as he spots his bed, he collapses face first into it.

“Nope,” Hinata announces loudly, dragging Kageyama off the bed by his ankle. “You are _not_ sleeping in those clothes; they’re way too fancy for you to ruin them.”

Once Hinata has him sitting on the edge of the bed, Hinata removes the crown from his head, crossing the room to place it delicately back in its box.

“You… You’re going to undress your prince?” Kageyama slurs, both the alcohol and the fatigue wearing him down.

“I thought you told me not to call you ‘my prince’ or anything like that.” Hinata sets down a pair of sleep clothes next to where Kageyama sits. “Now sit still while I do all these buttons.”

Hinata works meticulously at removing the outfit, first untying the cape from where it's tied around Kageyama’s throat, his fingers brushing the skin as he removes it. Then, he takes off the sash, wrapping his arms around Kageyama’s waist as he reaches to undo it. Lastly, he undoes the buttons of the jacket, one at a time, being careful to not pull too hard and disturb the delicate embroidery.

He picks up the pile of clothes he’s formed, giving Kageyama’s now shirtless body a once over before nodding at the sleep clothes he’s set aside. “Now put those on, and please don’t hurt yourself in the process. I’m going to get you a glass of water.”

Kageyama wrestles himself into the clothes for a few minutes, ultimately deciding that the shirt was _not_ worth the effort of attempting to button it up in his current state. Hinata returns, as promised, with a glass of water that he places on Kageyama’s bedside table.

He crawls into bed, watching as Hinata puts away the rest of the clothes he’s discarded.

“Do you need anything else?” Hinata asks, standing at Kageyama’s bedside.

“Why are you so nice to me?” Kageyama blurts out. The alcohol is starting to fade from his system, especially with the water Hinata brought, but his inhibitions are still blurred.

Hinata smiles softly, reaching over to push Kageyama’s hair out of his face. “Why do you keep asking me that?”

“You’re the first person I’ve known, except maybe Miwa, that’s been this kind to me. Everyone else seems to think I’m not worth it, so I just want to know why.”

“Kageyama–”

“Call me Tobio.”

“Okay,” Hinata smiles at him, taking a seat on the bed next to Kageyama. “Tobio, how drunk are you right now?”

“Pretty drunk,” Kageyama answers. “Wait, can I call you Shouyou too? Kozume did it earlier…”

“Yes, you can call me Shouyou, you big baby.” Hinata bites his lip. “I figured you’re pretty drunk right now. You probably won’t even remember most of this tomorrow.”

“Shouyou…” Kageyama hums, letting his eyes begin to drift closed. “I might not remember it tomorrow, but I’m listening now.”

“Well, _Tobio_ ,” he starts, putting emphasis on the given name. “When I was young, I saw you and Miwa playing out in the yards. You seemed… happy. Kind of like me and Natsu. But then once she grew up and got married you just seemed sad all the time, you were always so alone. I thought it a shame too, since you grew up to be so handsome and kind, but no one seemed to want to give you the time of day. I guess I just wanted to do whatever I could to take your sadness away.”

“Hmm… sounds like you like me or something,”

At this point, Kageyama’s thoughts aren’t even making sense to him; he’s just letting his mouth run its own inebriated course as he slips into unconsciousness.

The last thing he hears before falling asleep is Hinata’s soft laugh and an even quieter, “I guess so.”

* * *

Kageyama wakes up extremely hungover the next morning.

His stomach lurches, his head pounds, his throat is parched, and worst of all, his heart feels like it might beat out of his chest.

Last night, as he was falling asleep, Hinata – no, _Shouyou_ – had admitted to liking him, right after he spent the whole night fawning and feeling jealous over Hinata.

 _Oh no_ , he thinks to himself. _You’ve got it bad._

But he faces a dilemma now. Hinata had said those things assuming that he wouldn’t remember them; what was he to do now that he did?

His head pounds at the thought, stopping the train of thought as he buries himself in his blankets, hoping to hide from the early morning sun and fall back asleep.

The next time he wakes, he’s still hungover, only groggier than he was the first time and now, with company. He blinks his heavy eyes open to see Hinata busying himself around the room – doing what exactly, Kageyama can’t tell.

He opens the blinds across the room, the light shining directly into Kageyama’s eyes, eliciting a groan from him.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” He picks up a tray from one of the tables, bringing it to Kageyama’s bedside and taking a seat in a chair that had been conveniently placed next to the bed. Kageyama almost wishes Hinata would sit on the side of the bed like he had last night, just so he could soak in the warmth of Hinata’s body.

“I brought you a bunch of things to help you feel like a human again,” Hinata says, gesturing to the tray. “There’s some bread and eggs to help absorb some of the alcohol, some water, and my mother’s very own hangover cure. Be warned, though – it tastes atrocious.”

“Did you make this?” Kageyama asks, nibbling on some of the bread. It _does_ help to have some food in his stomach, he thinks, taking his fork and stabbing a piece of egg onto it.

“Only the hangover cure, Natsu did the rest for me.” Hinata grins. “Now eat up, you still have to say goodbye to all the guests later this morning.”

He groans, thinking about how embarrassing it’ll be to face people he made a fool of himself in front of last night, issuing the same apology over and over.

“Sh– Hinata,” he stops himself from using Hinata’s given name, a sure tell that he remembers the conversation from yesterday. He doesn’t want to make things more difficult for himself than they already are. At least, not for now. “You must have heard, what’s the damage?”

“Well, people definitely think you made a fool of yourself. I had to fend off a bunch of questions this morning while I was doing my errands, but don’t worry, I’ll keep all the foolish things you did when no one else saw to you and me.” He winks at Kageyama, earning another groan and an attempt to hide himself in his blankets again.

“Do you really think I made a fool of myself?” Kageyama asks from under the covers. “Be honest.”

“What’s with you and honesty lately?” Hinata grumbles under his breath, the sound just barely reaching Kageyama’s ears. “I think… it’s probably not as bad as you imagine. And _I_ certainly don’t view you as any less than I did before you got drunk on wine before all of the important people in the kingdom.”

“I’m not…” Kageyama searches for words. Even _if_ Hinata thought ill of him after last night, he wouldn’t care. Last night Hinata had admitted he _liked_ Kageyama, he doubts that would have changed by morning. “I’m worried about what my father and the guests will say. I don’t want to have to face him, especially if I’ll see them one after the other.”

“Well, lucky for you, we have a free afternoon.” Hinata offers him a reassuring smile, the brightness almost unmatched from the blinds. “And I came up with just the thing for us to do once the goodbyes are over to take your mind off of it. Now, get dressed so you can go get it over with.”

Saying goodbye to the guests is quite a similar process to greeting them earlier in the week. One by one, they come to greet him, receiving an apology for his behaviour and a bow of gratitude. Most of the guests seem to brush off his apologies, although a few do scoff and give him disgusted looks. He wishes he had Hinata at his side to give him confidence to ignore them, but the fact that he’s disappointed them causes a twinge in his heart.

He puts extra effort into the suitors, even though he knows it's futile at this point. None of them want to marry him, after all.

He bows extra deep to Prince Atsumu and Prince Osamu, even apologizing to their companions, who still seem glued to their respective twin’s side. 

“It was good entertainment, Tobio-kun,” Atsumu jokes, nudging his elbow into Kageyama’s arm.

“I guess we’ll be seeing you around then, Prince Kageyama,” Osamu says, nodding his head respectfully. With that, the four men leave, Kageyama watching that atrocious blonde hair grow farther and farther away until it disappears completely out of sight.

Next appears an unexpected trio. Princess Kiyoko and Princess Kanoka come into the throne room accompanied by Yachi. He takes turns offering them each a kiss on their hands, but they both refuse.

“We had a lovely time last night,” Kanoka says. “And don’t worry about the whole wine thing – it didn’t look too bad from where we were.”

“Yes,” Kiyoko agrees. “Although I think the three of us were mostly too caught up in our own little bubble to notice really.”

Kageyama breathes out a sigh of relief. He had been especially worried about Princess Kanoka’s opinion of him, as once she became queen they’d have to work together pretty frequently. He squints at Yachi, who is just hanging around behind the two princesses, looking especially happy.

“Well, we ought to get going!” she says, pulling the two princesses out of the conversation. “If we want to do a complete tour of the castle, we’d better get started before it’s too late in the morning.”

“Oh, yes! We really should leave now,” Kanoka offers him a warm smile. “Thank you for your hospitality, Prince Kageyama. I’ll see you later!”

When Lord Kozume comes in, he looks like he wants to get this over just as much as Kageyama does.

“Well, it was nice to see you again,” Kozume says, holding his hands tightly behind his back. “And of course, tell Shouyou that it was nice to meet him too. It’s unfortunate he’s not here to say goodbye.”

“I’ll pass on the message, though you only spoke to him a few minutes.” Kageyama huffs, trying to not let the jealousy he’d felt yesterday arise and ruin his civility. Kozume hadn’t done anything wrong after all.

“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” Kozume smirks. “He came back to the ball, about thirty minutes after you left. I ended up keeping him company most of the evening since he didn’t really seem to know anyone else well.”

“I see,” Kageyama takes a mental note to ask Hinata about this later, but he lets Kozume keep talking.

“He’s a good man, Kageyama, and he obviously cares for you a lot. You should have seen how worried he was when he came back. Be sure to treat him well.”

With that he leaves, and the guards usher in the next guest, someone he doesn’t even remember the name of. Kageyama goes through the routine, but his mind is distracted by Kozume’s words.

_Be sure to treat him well._

He doesn’t have too long to linger on them, as the flow of guests picks up, and he rushes through apology after apology, bow after bow, until suddenly locks of familiar orange hair are in his face.

“So, how’d it go?” Hinata asks.

“Could’ve been worse.”

“That’s the spirit, Kageyama!” He loops his arm around Kageyama’s elbow. “Now let’s get going.”

“You still haven’t told me what we’re doing.”

“It’s a surprise!”

Hinata drags him through the corridors, into a section of the castle Kageyama has never been to before. They pass rooms of various workers, and as they delve deeper and deeper into this wing of the castle, the air begins to feel warmer and fill with a delicious aroma.

Hinata tugs him into one of the rooms, which, judging by the large wooden table and stove in the background, is one of the castle’s many kitchens. Only instead of being filled with workers, this one is empty except for the two of them.

“We’re… cooking?’

“Have you forgotten already?” Hinata laughs, leading him to one of the tables with a bowl of vegetables on it. “Last night, you asked me if I would teach you how to cook.”

Kageyama vaguely remembers gushing to Hinata about the soup, and Hinata being genuinely surprised at his interest. “Yeah, I guess I did…”

“Well, technically you asked me about the soup, but since we ate that yesterday I thought it’d be better to try something different.” He passes Kageyama a knife and a potato. “I was testing out this recipe on my own, but I never got to the phase where other people could try it, so I was hoping we could make it together for you to try.”

Kageyama agrees, wondering what type of food they’d be making, but he follows along as Hinata shows him how to peel and slice potatoes and onions. They’re collecting the vegetables to add to the pot when a familiar looking flash of orange hair streaks past, a whining “ _Niiiiiiiii-san”_ coming from her lips.

“Natsu,” Hinata grunts as his little sister leaps into his arms. “I have company you know.”

She pulls back from his hug and looks over her shoulder, immediately turning red as a tomato when she sees Kageyama standing there.

“Your Highness!” she squeaks, dropping into a deep bow. “I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s fine,” Kageyama says, hoping his voice eases her nerves. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Natsu. Your brother didn’t tell me how much you two look alike.”

“He talks about me?” Natsu asks, cocking her head to the side. “Nii-san! You never told me that!”

“Yeah, well I wouldn’t want to give you a big head.” Hinata scoffs. “Don’t you have work you should be doing?”

“I came to drop these off.” She deposits the loaf of bread she carried in her arms on the table. “Fresh from the oven. I’m a baker, Your Highness.”

“Okay, well shouldn’t you get going then, Natsu?” Hinata pushes on her shoulders to get her out of the small kitchen.

“What’s the rush? You don’t want to spend time with your favourite sister?” she jokes.

“No, you’ll find some way to embarrass me.”

“I’ll find some other way. It was nice to meet you, Your Highness.”

“And you, Natsu.” Kageyama bows. “I hope sometime soon we’ll have the time to actually chat; I’m sure you have plenty of stories about Hinata that you could tell me.”

“I definitely do.” She grins, before eyeing Hinata’s potent glare and turning to leave. “Another time though! Enjoy the bread!”

After she leaves, they finish cooking in relative silence, only speaking while Hinata shows the different techniques. They only have a short time to actually eat it before Kageyama leaves to speak to his father, but Kageyama promises to return to the kitchens later on.

He closes the door behind him as he leaves, not missing the smile that has appeared on Hinata’s face.

* * *

Needless to say, the king is furious.

The second Kageyama enters his father’s bureau, his father is up on his feet, crossing the room to get up close into Kageyama’s personal space.

“I can’t believe you would do something like this,” he yells. “This was your one big chance to find someone you actually _liked_ to marry, but I watched last night as you messed up with suitor after suitor. You got so drunk halfway through the ball you didn’t even interact with the last suitor on the list at all! Care to explain yourself?”

Kageyama runs through his mind, searching for an excuse. He _could_ say he was having nerves of having to impress the suitors, which would be partially true, but he knows that his jealousy over seeing others fawn over Hinata had to do with it too. Neither of them would be a satisfying excuse for the King anyways, so he remains silent, prepared to take his father’s wrath.

“Unbelievable. You’d better learn some proper discipline before you become king.” He sighs, rubbing at the creases that have formed within his brow. “I spoke to Prince Suga this morning on your behalf. He’s willing to look past your foolishness of last night and take your hand in marriage anyways. We’ll start preparations next week, but the wedding will be in three months.”

Kageyama feels his blood run cold at his father’s words. His hands twitch at his sides as he tries to keep his composure, despite the shock to his system.

“I haven’t even met the man!” Kageyama pleads. “Please, Father. You can’t make me marry him, I’ll find someone.”

“Last night showed to me that you’re not competent enough to make your own decisions for matters this important.” His father slams his fist against a nearby table. “Marrying him will be extremely beneficial to our kingdom. You _will_ marry him and that will be the end of it.”

Kageyama doesn’t answer, deciding instead to storm out of the room, slamming the heavy wooden door behind him.

He weaves through the castle in an attempt to get back to the kitchens, turning down a few wrong hallways on the way but eventually following the smell of food cooking until he finds Hinata.

He walks into the same room as before to find Hinata still there, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he kneads a dough. Kageyama can see the way his muscles flex with each push, but he tears his eyes away from it before he’s caught in a trance. There are more important matters at hand.

“Pack your things, we’re leaving.”

Hinata looks up from his bread, wiping his hands on his pants. “What?”

“I need…” Kageyama starts. He doesn’t want to say too much here, for fear of other staff eavesdropping on him. He’ll tell Hinata all the details tomorrow, when they’re far from the palace walls and the gossipers they contain. “I just need to get away from the palace for a few days. Get some fresh air and clear my head, you know? I’ll arrange for us to go on a hunt, so just pack some clothes and see about getting some food for us, then meet me outside the stables tomorrow at dawn.”

“Okay,” Hinata says, his brow furrowed in worry. “Kageyama, are you okay? What happened?”

Kageyama sighs. The news will probably spread around the palace soon enough anyways. “Just that something happened with my father. I’ll tell you more tomorrow.”

Later that evening, when Kageyama is setting out his riding clothes for the next day, he sees his dress clothes from the ball, neatly folded on the table where Hinata had left them.

The reminder sets his mind into a spiral, remembering how _good_ Hinata looked at the ball last night, how he’d taken care of Kageyama in his drunken stupor and made sure he was taken care of the next morning too. They get along great, and there’s clearly a connection there, but Kageyama is being forced into an arranged marriage he doesn’t want.

If only Hinata had been born into a position more suitable to marry a prince, he thinks, shoving the remainder of his clothes for the trip into a duffel bag along with his problems.

* * *

Sneaking out of his room the next morning is easier than he expects it to be. None of the guards question him when he says he’s going out for a walk that early in the morning

He’d gone ahead and told his favourite stableboy to prepare them a camp pack and get the horses ready, and he knew Hoshiumi, for as loud as he was in his everyday life, would be good to keep their secret.

Hinata is waiting inside the stable with Hoshiumi when he gets there, the two of them chattering away as they put Hinata’s bags in the horse’s saddles.

“I’m guessing you want me to keep this a secret?” Hoshiumi asks when he spots Kageyama, moving to grab his bags for him. “I don’t see why else you’d be leaving this early.”

“Yeah, don’t tell anyone please,” Kageyama says. “At least not for a bit. I don’t want my dad to find out while we’re still close by, but once we’re far enough, it’ll be fine to tell him, I think.”

Hoshiumi gets them set up very swiftly, waving them off after they’ve walked to the palace gates together, somehow still unseen. “And you’ll be back in a few days?”

“Yeah,” Kageyama affirms. “We’ll probably only be gone three or four days. Thanks again, Hoshiumi.”

He and Kageyama set off on their horses, heading to a back road surrounded by trees that should bring them to one of Kageyama’s favourite spots to set up camp for hunts by early afternoon. They ride in silence as the sun rises higher and higher in the sky, Hinata frequently looking over at Kageyama’s tense face and white knuckles where he holds the reins, his lips pursed like he wants to say something but doesn’t. 

When the sun is beating down on them and Kageyama’s stomach is growling, they stop for a break, spreading a blanket underneath a tree and sitting down to eat.

“Here,” Hinata pulls out a loaf of bread from his bag, tearing off a piece to pass to Kageyama. “It’s the bread I was making yesterday; I asked Natsu to get up nice and early to bake it for me so that we could bring it with us.”

“Thanks,” Kageyama takes a bite, appreciating the crisp of the crust followed by the sponginess of the inside. He takes a sip of water to help calm his nerves, “I guess I should tell you what happened yesterday, huh.”

He exhales a shaky breath, and Hinata scooches closer to him on the blanket until they sit with their thighs pressed together.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“I _do_ want to tell you, it’s just difficult to think about it, because then I remember that I’m going to have to find a way around it.” He sighs, taking another bite of his bread before continuing. “The gist of it is, my father thinks I’m not responsible enough to make this decision on my own, so he arranged for me to marry some guy I’ve never even met. I don’t care that this _Prince Suga_ will be good for our kingdom; I don’t want to marry him!”

Hinata gapes, at a loss for words.

“I met him at the ball;” he blurts out, “he seemed nice.”

“That’s not what matters,” Kageyama says. “It’s that my dad doesn’t trust me enough to decide who I’m going to marry, but he still wants me to be king. I don’t like that he keeps flipping back and forth on me – he should either let me make decisions for myself or not.”

“You know, Kageyama,” Hinata starts. “Whenever marriage is brought up, you get all tense and frustrated. Is it possible that you just don’t want to get married?”

“It’s not that. Both my parents and Miwa married for love; they got to spend their lives happily with the choice they made, but I’m not even getting the chance for that. I got stuck with _this_ instead, and just because my father thinks we should take marriage as a political move from now on.”

“So if you found someone you genuinely liked, you’d happily get married to them?”

Kageyama thinks about his musings from yesterday, how he and Hinata get along great. How he would be happy to spend his life the same way he does now, spending almost every waking moment with Hinata.

“Yeah,” he hums, a small smile on his lips. “I would.”

They finish the loaf of bread in silence before packing up the blanket and riding the remaining few hours to the campsite, Hinata chattering off about shapes he sees in the clouds to keep them distracted.

It’s early afternoon when they arrive, exactly as Kageyama expected.

The campsite is a large clearing surrounded by woods, a fire pit set up from previous trips and patches of levelled ground made for pitching tents.

Hinata begins unpacking the saddles, his face puzzling when he pulls out the single tent packed.

“Is there only one for the both of us to use?” he asks.

Kageyama shrugs. He hadn’t given specific instructions to Hoshiumi when he’d arranged for the gear, so it's not entirely surprising that there’s a single tent. It's probably for the best though – he’s not sure how successful he and Hinata will be at putting it up, even with the included instructions.

It takes them most of the afternoon to actually set up their camp, filling their lopsided tent with the bedrolls and blankets that had been packed for them.

“Kageyama,” Hinata confesses as they put their food away into the tent, looking at the small numbers of it. “We don’t actually have to hunt, do we? I don’t think I’d be very good at it.”

Kageyama laughs. “No, we don’t have to hunt. I just used that as an excuse to leave. We can just hide out here for a few days and then go back to the castle.”

Hinata looks relieved, like he’s grateful for Kageyama’s answer. “Thanks.”

Kageyama looks at the sky. The sun is still sitting pretty high, just above the treelines, but he knows it will sink quickly and become quite cold. “We should collect some firewood.”

He gets up, heading towards the forest to collect some stray branches, but Hinata presses his hand against his chest, stopping him from going any further.

“I’ll do it; you wait here.” He says, smiling gently. “Wouldn’t want the prince getting hurt, would we?”

“I won’t get hurt; I can help you.” Kageyama insists, but Hinata only pushes him back.

“I’ll only be gone a few minutes, I promise.”

He leaves Kageyama at the campsite, alone with his thoughts. Was he imagining things or had the tension between them grown throughout the day? Did Hinata notice it too?

He went on this trip to escape his thoughts about Hinata and the impending wedding, but here he is, surrounded by them again.

He’s jerked out of his thoughts when a yelp sounds out from the forest, grasping his attention.

 _Hinata_ , he thinks, quickly getting to his feet and rushing into the woods in search of his knights.

He finds him fairly easily, not too far in, just fallen into a small ditch, all scratched up and with one of his legs bent the wrong way.

“Are you alright?” Kageyama asks, beginning a careful descent into the ditch, trying to not jostle Hinata where he lies in the dirt. “Can you stand?”

“I’m fine, mostly,” he mumbles. “I think I twisted my ankle, though; I’ll need help getting out of the ditch.”

Kageyama kneels at Hinata’s side, looping his arm around his waist and helping him limp back to their campsite, carrying the firewood Hinata had collected under his other arm. He sits Hinata down on a log near the firepit, inspecting the swelling of his ankle.

“It might be sprained; I can’t quite tell,” Kageyama muses. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“Yeah, I got a scratch from a branch while I fell; it felt like it cut pretty deep,” Hinata lifts his shirt enough to reveal a scratch running along his ribcage, just deep enough for there to be a little bit of blood, but not dangerous enough to need immediate medical attention.

Kageyama fetches a cloth from their tent, dampening it with some of their drinking water. He presses the cloth against the cut, eliciting a shiver from Hinata.

“Are you cold?” He asks, immediately shrugging off his jacket at Hinata’s nod, offering it to him. He wraps it around Hinata’s shoulders, the fabric hanging loosely off his body.

He continues to clean the cut, being extra gentle when Hinata winces.

“You’re always being so reckless for me,” Kageyama muses, thinking back to when he and Hinata first met, Hinata diving in to save his life even at the potential consequences of his own. “You should learn to put yourself first, Shouyou.”

The given name leaves his lips for the first time since the other night, but he knows it’s use will be an automatic giveaway that he remembers their conversation.

Hinata goes bright red. “So you _do_ remember what I said while you were drunk, then.”

He presses his hands against his face, letting his shirt drop down over his cut. The heels of his hands press against his eyes, like if he tries hard enough, he’ll wake himself up from a dream.

Kageyama gently takes his wrists, prying his hands away from his face. “Yeah, I do remember.”

“Well, _Tobio_ ,” Hinata groans, but he doesn’t try and pull his hands away from where they’re held by Kageyama. “It must be obvious now why I’m so reckless around you. I care for you, not just as the prince I’m sworn to protect but as the friend I’ve grown to know, the friend I worry I might be falling in love with. I know we can’t be together though, so I can either back off or request a new knight be assigned to you or something…”

“Hinata–” Kageyama tries to interrupt him, but he keeps rambling on.

“I know this news is upsetting to you, but it hurts _me_ too. I’ve seen who you are, who you _really_ are, and I want nothing more than for you to be happy and I know this marriage isn’t what you want and–”

“Hinata,” Kageyama tries again, firmer this time. “I’m not happy about the news either. I… I like you too. And I want to be together, but we just can't.”

He gulps, avoiding Hinata’s eyes as he continues. “There’s just no way. A prince… no, a future _king_ foregoing marrying someone with political benefit? There’s no way my father could allow that. I just wish… if only there was some way around the rules and the social norms that hold me back. Then we could at least _try_ to be together.”

Hinata blinks in shock. “Did I hear that correctly? You just said a lot of words, but did you just tell me that you like me?”

“Yeah.” Kageyama laughs, if anything just to break the tension in the atmosphere. “I care for you and your happiness too, probably more than you’d know. And I know it’s unfair that we can’t be together, but maybe we can work something out. Maybe we can find a way...”

Hinata’s eyes widen, shiny with vulnerability as he looks up at Kageyama.

It feels like everything has changed between them now that his feelings are out in the open, but Kageyama reasons that it’s not so different after all. Ever since that first meeting when Hinata toppled him to the ground, Hinata took his breath away and never gave it back. And even after that, he proved time and time again that he cared, teaching him to dance, comforting him about his fears, and even caring for him after he made a drunken fool of himself at the ball.

Admitting his feelings out loud was the least Kageyama could do.

He wraps his arms around Hinata, pulling him into an awkward hug and squeezing tight, feeling a relief when Hinata squeezes him back.

“I’m so glad it’s mutual,” Hinata whispers into Kageyama’s neck, his grasp never loosening.

Kageyama pulls away gently, only enough to see Hinata’s expression. He feels Hinata’s breath against his cheek, reminding them of how close they’d stood when Hinata taught him how to dance. His heart quickens at the reminder, sudden realization washing over him.

“Hinata,” he strokes his thumb along Hinata’s cheekbone. “I don’t think I realized it until I met you, but I was really lonely. You filled that gap for me; you were what I was missing all along. I don’t want to be without you, if I can help it.”

Hinata’s eyes twinkle in the moonlight, his lip wobbling as he leans ever so slightly closer. “Kageyama…”

Before Hinata can continue that thought, Kageyama closes the gap between them, pressing their lips together. It’s clumsy as they search for a rhythm, Hinata’s hands moving to Kageyama’s hair to guide him.

They kiss until they’re both out of breath, finally pulling apart just enough to lean their foreheads against each other.

“Kageyama…” Hinata tries again, still panting from the kiss. “I don’t think I can be without you either. We’ll… We’ll find a way. I promise.”

Kageyama’s heart squeezes at Hinata’s promise, knowing that he himself wants to do everything he can to keep it. Now that Hinata has become what was missing in his life, he has a fierce need to protect him.

Tomorrow, he’ll escort Hinata back to the castle to get his injuries checked out. Tomorrow, he’ll come up with a plan about the wedding and talk to his dad.

But for now, he just wants to spend the next few hours bathed in Hinata’s light.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/HQcharbon)!!!


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